Look into the Journey by clicking on this link... Look into the Future!!!!! Overall Album Score: 7.1 out of 10 ANYWAY YOU WANT IT, THAT'S THE WAY YOU NEED IT, ANYWAY YOU WANT IT NURNURNURNURNURNUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DUDES!!!! That is totally why I'm reviewing Journey. Why on Pickering Rd. do I have to sit through all this band's early albums that nobody ever listens to in order to get to "AAAANYYYYYWAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY YYYYOUUUUU WAAAANTTT ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT???" This sucks. It sucked sitting through Journey, and it sucks sitting through Look Into the Future. And ... Oh, I had might as well quit complaining and review this thing. That's what I'm being paid (nothing) for. The major difference between Journey and Look Into the Future is the band's slight shift from modern (1975) progressive rock to antique (1969) acid, fusion rock. I have no freaking clue why these guys really wanted to go back in time like that, but whatever. ... I don't care. I just want to review "Anyway You Want it." And in order to do that, I have to review "You're On Your Own" (an excellent fusion-rock tune) and "Midnight Dreamer" (a bit o' rock with cowbell ... and then progressive rock ramblin'). This isn't a horrible album or anything. The instrument playing and guitar-soloin' is still pretty solid and impressive, just like they experienced on their debut. All of these songs pretty much are short on melody ... just like their debut. I guess it's no surprise that I ended up giving both albums the exact same score ... (I like to think that I did that on purpose ... that's just how the numbers added up). Seriously, folks. You have something better to do than listening to Journey albums before Steve Perry joined up. And even then, sometimes........................ Overall Album Score: 7.1 out of 10 (This is the same score as Journey's debut album ... This one forays a little more into fusion-rock territory and not so much prog-rock ... but that didn't help it any, apparently! Both albums have their strengths and their weaknesses.) Average Song Score: 7.3 (These are hardly an inspired set of tunes ... but they're certainly far away from being total crap. There is actual talent on Journey.) Album Tilt: 7.0 (It works well as a final project, I guess. It does get tiresome, but ... you pretty much have to know that getting into it.) Artist Rating: 7.0 (Certainly, this sounds a bit retro ... say 1969 fusion-rock and whatnot. Not that it's a terrible thing, of course! Nevertheless, I can't deny that the band is trying to at least be marginally creative with these songs ... which could have used better melodies, certainly.) Track Reviews On a Saturday Night 7/10 So............. We've forgotten about all that prog rock whatever for the band's debut and now we're doing the whole bland 70s rock and roll thing. This probably has more of a melody than the stuff on Journey and there are some nice electric guitar licks on this, but this thing has about a zero percent rating on the excitement scale. The melody isn't very good, either. Blah. It's All Too Much 8/10 It's amazing that this band would eventually turn into something GREAT ... and it's even more amazing that the GREAT is entirely more commercial sounding than this! Although, this is probably AOR of the Styx variety. They certainly have a prog-rock thing going, except it's more bombastic and whatnot. The instrumental passages are alright, though. I'll give it that. The melodies STILL AREN'T GOOD. HIRMIGHM! Anyway 6/10 Sort of a rock-fusion type thing, I guess. ... I don't know. But I do know that this thing is boring, anyway. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! I'M FALLING ASLEEP HERE, GUYS!!!!!! YOU'RE NOT KING FREAKING CRIMSON YOU KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS THING IS HARDLY OVER FOUR MINUTES AND IT SEEMS LIKE IT'S GOING TO GO ON UNTIL MY DEATH!!!!!!!!... She Makes Me (Feel Alright) 6.5/10 Okay. I didn't die. Thank goodness. They pick up the pace a little bit with this one. It's more on the HARDER side of rock. It reeks of Kiss, but what can I say? Even if you compare this to Kiss, it's music! (Besides that, these guys are much better with their instruments.) The song still sucks, though. There's NO melody, the riff STINKS ... nice solos, but that can only take a song so far. You're On Your Own 9/10 I like to think the melody on this one is good ... and compared with the last couple of songs it is GREAT. The instrumentation and stuff sounds so drugged-up that it takes me right back to the good old days ... ten years before this album was released! ... What the crap???... Oh well, I'm not going to pretend that I actually think it matters that a song released in 1976 sounds 10 years before its time. 1976 and 1966 are both ancient. ... Anyway, this thing is easily the best thing on the album. ... They even bring back the cool electric organ that I remember hearing rip on the debut. Cool! Look Into the Future 7/10 I'm looking into your future, and what do I see? ................... "Strangers! Waiting! Up and down the bouulllllllevaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard" ... Yeah, screw all this 1976 Look Into the Future bullcrap. I'm turning on some classic rock radio!! ... What's with this goofy song, anyway? There's a real effort at bringing out some real emotion in here, what's essentially a prog-rock song ... And there is another string of eXcellent electric guitar solos, which is singularly responsible for shooting up that overall score to a seven (but, you know, these things are getting a little bit tiresome). The product ends up sounding like an overlong version of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" with a lot of piddle on it. Blaaaaahhhhhhhh. Yeah, these guys clearly were never meant to be prog-rockers. Midnight Dreamer 8/10 NEEDS MORE COWBELL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey! This is a genuine REAL rocker song! ... I love genuine real ROCKER SONGS!!!! ... Plus, there's COWBELL!!!!!! .......... Yup. This is genuine rock (with not really a great melody, but I don't give a crap about that anymore), and ... and ... well ... then it just turns into a lengthy prog rock instrumental jam (which isn't that bad, actually). ... Hmmm ... This is hardly Let it Bleed-era Rolling Stones quality, but it passes, certainly. Fwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry. I'm caffinated this evening.) I'm Gonna Leave You 7/10 This song, in three words, is: Ti Re Some. (Was that clever? ... No? ... You don't have a sense of humor.) Anyway, this LOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGGGGG DRAAWWWWWNNNNNNN OUTTTTTTTTTTTT song isn't really progressive rock. It's fusion rock in the same vein as ... a less talented Stooges maybe. I don't know. It's behind its time, that's for sure ... but, then again, everything was in a bit of a void in 1976, wasn't it? It's before the whole New Wave thing started! Anyway, this 7-minute song isn't a total piece of crap, but it's hardly inspired. And it's way too long. And, while I'm obviously the first person to tell you that I love these electric guitar solos within these REALLY LONG instrumental interludes, but we NEED MORE, MANNNN! ... A good melody would be nice ...... You know, like that one song I keep hearing on the radio. "Up and down the BOULEVAAAARDDDDD!!!!!!!!!" Now, THAT'S a classic. Journey should totally envy whoever wrote that beauty. Sometime in your future, please send me your comments about this album here, if you pllllease.

All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. Where's the Hoofly?